Month: July 2010

It all comes down to tonight. With one final regular season game left, The Chivas-El Paso Patriots will need a victory and help from Dallas and Midland to make it into the playoffs. The local side beat the Laredo Heat by a score of 2-1 last night at Gary del Palacio Field of Dreams in front of a packed house. The Chivas took 19 minutes to take the lead when a long kick form goalkeeper Jorge Muniz found forward Cristian Zamora. Zamora then crossed it to Edgar Mendoza who put the ball in the right hand side of the goal. Mendoza was then injured (right knee) a little more than five minutes after he scored and will most likely not play tonight.

The remainder of the the first half was tightly fought as both teams had several opportunities to score.

In the second half of the match the Heat came out on fire and really put pressure on the local side until Felix Garcia scored for the visiting team off of a wall pass in the heart of the goal box. It was at that point that Chivas-Patriots settle into a rhythm that allowed them to dominate the remainder of the the game.

That effort paid dividends as with 2 minutes to go in the game Hugo Samano became the hero of the night when he scored off a divided ball after a free kick that was given to the Patriots. With this gol the Chivas-Patriots chances are kept alive for a playoff spot.

Tonight will be the second game in as many days as these two squads will face off again in what is surely to be a stellar, explosive matchup. The game will be at 8:00pm at Gary del Palacio Field of Dreams, 6941 Industrial Dr. Tickets are $4.00 for adults, $1.00 for kids 12 and under and $3.00 for military.

Two games in two days is a tall order in any professional sport. This is especially the case in soccer. Well that is exactly the challenge that the Chivas-El Paso Patriots will have this weekend against the Laredo Heat tonight and tomorrow at 8:00pm at Gary del Palacio Field of Dreams. The Chivas will try to finish the regular season being a perfect 8-0 at home and give themselves a more than honest shot at making the playoffs. Keep in mind the Chivas-Patriots still depend on the results of Midland and Dallas this weekend despite if they win both games.

The Laredo Heat is currently in first place in the USL. A team that Patriots captain Enrique Cervantes calls "a big rival…that has a lot of players with a lot of experience, and an organization that recruits a lot of good players, players with division 1 experience in Mexico". Cervantes goes onto say that this weekends games should be "a lot of fun for the fans".

Both Cervantes and Head Coach Rafael Guzman are comfortable with their team's depth which will most likely be needed this weekend with two games. They are also in agreement that they need to take it one game at a time. They need to focus on today's game first and foremost, because if they don't get a win then Saturday's game will then become a formality.

As for the players that might have their number called sometime this weekend off of the bench, Guzman said, "We talked about it during the week. The players that have had little participation throughout the season will be more important than ever this weekend and they have to be ready. We will come out with the best that we have, but with all the confidence in the world that our bench can also make a difference in a positive way."

The games are tonight and tomorrow at 8:00pm at Gary del Palacio Field of Dreams located at 6941 Industrial Dr. Tickets are $4.00 for Adults, $1.00 Children 12 and under, and $3.00 Military.

They say life comes full circle and then you get another go at it. This is certainly true for CF Indios. On Saturday night the team from Borderland started its journey on the long road back to Mexico's Premier Soccer Division by winning its season opener by a score of 5-1 beating the Guerreros de Hermosillo. This was an expected result as the team from Hermosillo was the worst team in the promotion league last year and little has been done to make any improvements over the offseason.

Despite the weaker opposition, the Tribe demonstrated plenty of character and were thorough for the entire 90 minutes. Two players stood out in my opinion from this match for the team from the Borderland. They were Oscar Rojas and Juan Agusto Gomez. They were the spark for the local side on the offensive side of things. The defense for the Indios was challenged little in this match. The gol that was scored against them was a shot from 30 yards out that caught everyone by surprise, probably including the player from Hermosillo who took the strike.

I think that this was a victory that the fans from Indios needed. They needed and were deserving of witnessing a blowout in their favor. It was something that was enjoyed thoroughly by everyone at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. Let us all hope the victories keep coming.

Next up for the Tribe they will play Altamira in the state of Tamaluipas Friday night at 6:00 pm local time. The game will be broadcast live on 1490 am RadioNET. This team that the Indios will play is also new to the promotion league. Most expect for this to be another prep game for the Indios for their first real challenge of the season which will come a week from Saturday against Leon. Former team captain and hero for the Tribe, Edwin Santibanez now plays for Leon. This should make for a very intresting home game for the Indios.

With a second half that was alone worth the price of admission the Chivas-El Paso Patriots kept their playoff hopes alive by defeating the West Texas Sockers by a score of 3-1 Friday night. After a first half that was pretty much uneventful and bogged down in midfield, the local side made some halftime adjustments and came out with all cylinders firing.

The team from Midland scored first when they capitalized on a free kick in the 51st minute when Lucas Garcia had a crossing strike that found the back of the net. From there on out it was all Chivas. The local team settled in and Christian Zamora and Jonathan Camarena started to work their magic down the left side of the field to put complete pressure on the opposition. The Sockers finally broke down and committed almost back to back penalties both resulting in red cards in the 76th and 78 minute of the game. The penalty kicks were converted by team captain Enrique Cervantes in perfect form.

With the opposing team pretty much demoralized it wasn't long before the local side found the third gol of the match. Mariano Sapien scored on a through ball in the 88 minute of the game.

After the game I spoke with team captain Enrique Cervantes. He told me that hewas confident the gols would come because of the fact that they had possession of the ball for most of the game. He is already looking forward to next weekend when Chivas-Patriots will play two games in two days (Friday and Saturday) against Loredo. In these two games this team looks to keep their perfect record at home intact and make their way into the playoffs. Stayed tuned. Until next time…

This weekend is going to be full of action in the Borderland. Friday the Chivas-El Paso Patriots will play against the West Texas Shockers at 8:00 pm at Gary Del Palacio Field of Dreams at 6491 Industrial Drive. Chivas need to continue to keep their winning streak at home intact to keep their playoff hopes alive. There is only 3 games left in the regular season for this team to make things happen. The Chivas-Patriots need to win the remaining games and depend on the results of others to make it to postseason play. Kiki Cervantes and company will try their best to keep hope alive.

If that isn't enough CF Indios will have its season opener of 2010 campaign on Saturday night at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium against the Guerreros de Hidalgo. The game will be at 7:00pm. This game will bring a little something extra to the table as some of the people from the team from Hidalgo have had recent ties with the Tribe. The head coach for Hidalgo is Indios former head coach Jose Trevino. Both forwards for the team are also former Indios. Hector "El Coco" Gimenez and Juan Carlos Dias now defend the colors for the opposition. I'm pretty sure that they will receive a warm welcome to the Borderland come Saturday night.

Defending midfielder for the team from the Borderland, Juan Ramon Curbelo, is ready for Saturday. He is aware that the Indios are one of the best teams in the Liga De Ascenso (This is the name of the promotion league for Mexican Soccer). Therefore, all teams, especially those in the lower tier of the league like Hidalgo is, will come out trying twice as hard to leave the Borderland with any points in the bag.

CF Indios finished off their preseason with a 2-2 tie against Atlante's farm team in 2nd division. This was the Tribe's third tie in as many games. However the result for this game was deceptive. The Indios underwent a total of 7 substitutions in the second half of the game obviously disrupting the team's chemistry. In the first half of the game the Indios came out dominating the game and continuing their style of play that has been improving in form since the first preseason game.

Both of the passes for gol for the Tribe were made by Eduardo Lillingston. Lillingston is one of the Indios new acquisitions for the season. He is a forward typically, but yesterday he played as a creative midfielder. This formula worked for head coach Gabino Aparan as Lillingston was credited with both assists. The gols for the team from the Borderland were scored by Francisco Mendoza in the 8th minute and Danilo De'Oliveira in the 52nd. Both of these players are new acquisitions for the Indios. The Indios will open up the season next Saturday at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium against Guerreros de Hermosillo at 7 pm. Stay Tuned. Until next time, VAMOS Indios!!!

The Chivas-El Paso Patriots continued their perfect streak at home Thursday night by defeating the Dallas-Ft.Worth Tornados by a score of 2-1. The game got off to a quick start when a gol was scored by the home team in the 8th minute of play. Edgar De La Rosa caught up with a screen pass down the left flank as he approached the opposing team's area he centered the ball. Waiting for it was Christian Zamora, without any hesitation he kicked the ball as it approached him. The goalie had no chance as the ball hit the back of the gol. This is how they went into the locker rooms at half, with the local team up by the minimal difference.

In the second half things got off to just as fast of a start as in the beginning of the game. In the third minute of the second half the Tornados scored. I have to say that the visiting team dominated for about the first 25 minutes of the second half. However, Chivas-Patriots kept making adjustments that lead to the game winning gol. Midfielder Kiki Cervantes placed an impeccable through pass to Jonathan Camarena. The goalie came out to attack Camarena and reduce the angle he had for the shot on gol. Jonathan simply kicked the ball to the right of the goalie for the game winner.

After the game, the head coach for the Chivas-Patriots Rafael Guzman said, "The gols came at the percise point in the game when they were needed the most…especially because Dallas-Ft. Worth was a bigger, more physical team".

The next game for Chivas-Patriots will be on friday night at 8pm. They need to win the rest of the games for the remainder of the season which will all be at home and depend on the results of other teams in their group to make the playoffs. Stay tuned.

In other news, CF Indios will have its final preseason game against first division team Atlante tonight at 7:00pm at Benito Juarez Olympic Stadium. It will be the team's formal presentation before their fans as season begins next weekend. The Indios have tied both preseason games and are slowly but surely coming into rhythm for the start of the season as the Tribe will fight to be a serious contender to win the promotion into Mexico's Fist Division come next spring.